FYI, the real unemployment rate seldom is

[mmonk]

the unemployment given out by the government. I'm just tired of people always telling me when I post something, I'm full of it. Have a nice rest of the day. http://www.epi.org/publication/missing-workers/

[NCTraveler]

1. Have a wonderful rest of your day too!!!!

[restorefreedom]

7. a purely friendly, apolitical, noncontroversial comment

wonderfully refreshing and sadly, increasingly rare on du

[MohRokTah]

2. Sorry your guy didn't get the economic disaster he needs to win the primaries

[Wilms]

3. Sorry your candidate was forced to co-opt Bernie's positions.

All that twisting and turning, she's liable to sprain something.

[MohRokTah]

4. Seeya on the trail for Hillary in the GE!

[mmonk]

6. I don't look for economic disasters.

I look for people that will protect the people's interest.

[Dawgs]

8. What a stupid comment.

Where did the OP say anything about Bernie?

[restorefreedom]

5. there are hordes of people not being counted officially

they have just been lost. the "low unemployment" rate is a farce, more corporate tripe for the peons to lap up

have a good day

[jeff47]

9. Uh...the government does give it out.

The number used for newspaper headlines is U3 from the Bureau of labor statistics. There's a reasonable argument that this is the "real" unemployment rate.

BLS also puts out U6, which adds in workers who have a job but want more hours as well as "discouraged" workers. There's also a reasonable argument that this is the "real" unemployment rate.

BLS also puts out statistics on the labor force participation rate, which measures the missing workers you are talking about. There's an argument that this also is the "real" unemployment rate, but runs into the problem of not finding out why someone is not actually working.

For example, my wife is no longer employed, so she would show up on the "bad" side of labor force participation. We had kids, and are fortunate enough to afford for her to not work while they are very young. Also, until 2 years ago my mother-in-law would be on the "bad" side of labor force participation, because she had to retire at 62 instead of 65.

If you exclude people like that from the labor force participation stats, you basically get U6.

[sufrommich]

10. Why is this in GD/P? nt

[mmonk]

11. Due mainly to a post here regarding jobs added

and the official unemployment rate. Otherwise I would have since I meant it as informative rather than politically partisan. Thanks for asking.

[lark]

12. Of course not. Think it was changed during the Raygun years to hide the real impact.

They don't consider every working age person now as they used to. They only include people as unemployed when they are actually looking for work and are on unemployment, compared to the number of people who are getting company paychecks. So long term unemployment is lost and not counted.

[markmyword]

13. Jobs Created for Whom?

Millions of workers have dropped out of the job market. Too old, too experienced, too expensive, or their jobs have been shipped overseas. These people aren't even included in the unemployed numbers!!!

Every month the government posts all the new jobs.

I want to know what jobs these are?

Minimum wage?
Part-time?
Paying under $40,000 a year?
Temporary job?
A job with no benefits?
Someone with a college degree flipping burgers?

Just what jobs have been created and who fills them?

Only until that information is released will we know what the true employment picture looks like.

[mmonk]

14. I think you've hit on something.

I've had 230 academic hours in this field of economics and I always take what the government says with an ounce of salt (the average bachelor's degree is 120 hours). It doesn't mean I'm smarter but does indicate I dig deeper.

[JoePhilly]

15. The RW has been searching for new metrics ...

... the instant the traditional metrics turn against their predictions.

The drop in participation rate is now being used as one of these alternative metrics.

And usually when used, those using it neglect to mention that the recent decline was predicted decades ago based on the movement of baby boomers through the various age ranges.

Additionally, participation rate had ticked up in recent months, another fact those referencing this alternative metric generally fail to mention.